KEEPING fit in the lead-up to the official start of his pre-season, Matthew Broadbent smacked 82 not out for Western Eagles against East Torrens last Saturday.
Playing it safe in the 4th XI competition, Broadbent’s unbeaten score was an impressive start on the first day in the battle of East v West.
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At least it was a marked improvement on his two runs the week before, although he did roll the arm over to take 1/9 against Adelaide University.
Unfortunately for the Power defender, his chance to go for 100 was dashed when play was cancelled on the second day after the sprinklers at the Windsor Gardens oval were left on overnight.
"It was enjoyable to get back out with the boys at West Torrens, I knew a few of them from the junior days, it's the club that I played at when I was a kid," Broadbent told portadelaidefc.com.au.
"The problem was that they left the sprinklers on Sunday morning, so we had to call the game off."
With the consent of the Power's head of high performance Darren Burgess, Broadbent said the chance to get back into one of his favourite sports at a lower level was enjoyable.
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But the brief code-change will be short-lived for Broadbent.
He will hit the track on Monday for his first session of the pre-season with the rest of the Power's returning senior group.
"Burgo was fine with me playing, it was only fourth grade and it's up to me to make sure I'm taking care of myself, just as I would if I was doing running during the break to get ready for the start of training," Broadbent said.
"I'm back into it [pre-season training] on Monday, and really looking forward to it.
"I caught up with a few of the boys, especially over the last couple of weeks, but the break is also good to just get away and relax before the hard work starts again.
"We want to bounce back from what was a pretty poor year - everyone's keen to get stuck in."
